The Wammy's House
by the-sands-5th
Summary: A young boy. Tests and challenges thrust upon him. This is the story behind the orphan detectives we've all come to know. L POV
1. Welcome

"What is his name?"

"Lawliet"  
"And why is he here?"

"He is quite a smart young lad, I have heard that he's very good at solving puzzles…"

The old man looked down at the little boy and gave him a warm smile. One he hadn't seen in many days. When the old man smiled his gray moustache seemed to tickle his nose. His eyes closed and his frail glasses rested gently upon his nose. He wore a black suit and despite his old age he stood upright and sturdy, with the exception of a slight arch in his upper back. He almost looked like an old butler in Lawliet's eyes, one he had seen in the movies.

Lawliet looked up at the old man with eyes so beautiful. They were deep gray with a blue tint, and yet the look he gave could have made the heavens weep. The boy was young, no older than seven. His hair was black as night and quite thick, or maybe it wasn't thick at all. It looked as though it hadn't been brushed nor washed in days. Yet it still had a decent look to it considering. It was shaggy and was long enough to just barely brush against his shoulders; and the way it was cut seemed to form a lovely frame around his face. And what a face it was. So angelic and innocent… and scared. Small and pale to the point in which it had a certain glow to it. Despite his wonderful complexion and skin tone he had large bags under his eyes. It was obvious that over the last few days he had gotten very few hours of sleep. His nose was also red, most likely from the cold weather. And he wore a long white coat with blue jeans. And there was a little scarf around his neck.

It was snowing outside. And it was dark. It was quite a depressing atmosphere.

The old man frowned in sadness when he realized the kind of state the boy was in. he sighed. Then he slowly bent down on one knee so he was at eye level to the boy and said gently

"Lawliet…"

The ring of a bell, one that you would normally hear in a schoolhouse, interrupted the old man. Doors began opening outside of the room and the laughter of children filled the halls.

Suddenly, only for just a moment Lawliet jumped a little. His eyes grew large and wondrous and his mouth dropped a small bit showing only a fraction of his teeth, which were surprisingly white considering all of his other aspects. He looked toward the door.

The old man smiled having seen this reaction in many children before. He then put his hand on the boy's shoulder. Lawliet's gaze shot over to the old man.

"Lawliet, would you like me to show you the rest of the house?"

His head tilted slightly to one side in confusion. For he thought the old man was going to say something different.

"Then, of course, I can introduce you to the other children afterward"

Lawliet's eyes widened in joy and a small grin lit up his face.

The old man patted him on the head twice and slowly rose to his feet. Still smiling and looking at the boy the entire time.

"Come, I will show you your room."

The old man began to walk toward the door. In arms reach of it he turned to face Lawliet who was still standing where he had left him.

"You may call me Watari." The old man said with a smile.

He opened the door and gestured for him to follow him out.

Lawliet began to walk toward the door slowly. As he reached the door he turned around and analyzed the room he was in for the first time. It was a large room, and despite its large size there were few things in it. Directly across from the door was a large desk where another man was sitting. There was one large bookcase directly behind the desk with windows on either side of it. Other than that, and a large rug in the middle of the room, it was almost completely empty. The walls were simply white with a unique romantic trim.

He looked outside the windows. It was snowing quite hard. A storm was coming.

"Lawliet."

He looked at the old man sitting at the desk.

"Please," he gestured toward the door "Go with Watari. I promise he will take good care of you." And smiled.

He was also a kind looking old man. He had a large nose and his eyes squinted when he spoke. And unlike Watari, he was beginning to bald slightly at the top of his head.

Lawliet then looked at Watari who was still smiling, waiting patiently by the door.

Watari looked up at the other man "Thank you Roger, I will return when I'm done."

The young boy then walked outside of the room taking one more quick glance inside.

Watari put his frail hand on Lawliet's back and closed the door behind them.

Roger sat alone at his desk and looked down at his paperwork. He began filling out his documents. He picked up a stack of paper and arranged it into a neat pile and placed it to one side. On top of the stack in the left hand corner was a picture of the young boy.

Roger the pushed back his chair and looked under his desk. There were four large safes, ones you couldn't buy at a store.

He began to type in the security code, and then he pulled out a key and unlocked the safe. Inside it were two drawers that filled the safe. He pulled out the bottom drawer. There were children's files; L, M and N. Roger shifted threw the files until he came to "L". He then placed Lawliet's file in it's alphabetically correct spot.

Then he closed the drawer and with a loud clank, locked the safe. 

"Welcome to The Wammy's House Lawliet."


	2. The First Night

**PART 2 **

Watari moved to the left and began walking down the large hall, Lawliet close behind him.

Almost directly beside Roger's office was a very large room with many beds. Watari turned to the large room and glanced back at Lawliet. He smiled and gestured for him to go into the room. Lawliet's eyes grew large in curiosity.

"This is where you will be sleeping."

The room was even larger than it seemed at first glance. Small Lawliet felt even smaller being in this room. Large windows covered the wall directly across from the door and on the left wall from that.

Watari began to walk past the rows of beds with Lawliet. There were so many of them. The beds rested against the walls in front and beside the doors. There were about 30 of them on each side of the room.

Lawliet's attention turned to all the empty beds

_How many other kids are there?_ he thought to himself

Suddenly he bumped into Watari who quickly stopped motionless. Watari turned to him and smiled.

"This bed is yours." He gestured toward a small, one person bed on the left side of the room.

The bed looked nice and clean. Suddenly Lawliet's gaze shot toward a small stuffed monkey sitting on his pillow.

He gasped "GEORGE!" he yelled in excitement.

He ran over to the bed and snatched up the monkey and cuddled it to his chest. A small smile grew upon his face.

"Mind you, this is the boys room. The girls room is directly across the hall"

"Where are my clothes?" Lawliet said changing the subject anxiously.

Watari walked over to Lawliet, then got down on one knee and pulled up the bed skirt. He looked up at Lawliet and gestured for him to come down and take a look under the bed.

Lawliet got down on all fours and looked under the bed to see a large trunk.

"All of your things are in this trunk"

The old man stood up slowly. As he stood he threw his back out a small bit. He let a sigh of pain and quickly put his hand on his lower back.

Lawliet jumped up end looked at Watari with large and concerned eyes.

"Watari, you're getting to old for this."

Lawliet looked up in surprise as he saw a young man, about 14 years old, help Watari to his feet. He was a very good-looking boy. He had thin blonde hair that was layered down to the lower portion of his neck. He had eyes as blue as the sky and easily twice as beautiful. He wore a faded blue tank top and jeans that went down just below his knees. On each arm he wore a white sweet band and many silver charm bracelets.

Watari rose to his feet slowly and looked at the young man. Watari smiled at him and put one hand on his shoulder

"Thank you Vain"

"No problem Watari, you really should be more careful." He smiled at the old man.

His gaze slowly shifted to the little boy standing by the bed holding a stuffed monkey.

"Are you new?" he looked at Lawliet for an answer.

Lawliet nodded in embarrassment.

The boy walked over to Lawliet and gave him a comforting smile.

"My bed is right next to yours," he gestured to the bed on the left of Lawliet's "If you need anything I'll be right here." He pulled his hair back out of his face "My name is Vain."

Lawliet just then noticed he had about six silver earrings as well. Vain pat Lawliet on the head and flopped on top of his bed.

"So, what's your name kiddo?" he placed his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

Lawliet blushed a little and looked down at the floor avoiding Vain's eyes "My name is Lawliet."

Vain opened one eye and looked at Watari, the old man was smiling as usual. Then took a quick glance at Lawliet.

"Lawliet?" he closed his eyes "That's a unique name."

He rolled over on his bed turning his back to the two.

Watari collected himself pushed his glasses up and pointed to the far left of the room down, past all of the many beds, at two large wooden doors.

"Those doors lead to the front yard and driveway."

Lawliet looked up at him "I will take you out there tomorrow, it is still snowing quite hard outside as you can see."

Lawliet nodded letting him know that he understood. "Come," Watari said "I will show you the rest of the house"

"Watari it's getting late," Vain interrupted "show him the house tomorrow. I'm sure the little guy is tired, he's had a long day. I'm sure." Vain said with a yawn.

Watari nodded "would you like to go to bed early tonight?"

Lawliet looked down to the floor and gave a little nod.

"I'll show you the house tomorrow then."

Watari walked over to the bed and pulled down the sheets "Your pajamas are in your trunk"

"Where do I change?" Lawliet asked curiously.

"Right here kiddo" Lawliet looked at Vain who lay on his bed fully clothed back still turned to him.

Vain rolled over onto his back and began to remove his arm jewelry. After removing all his arm accessories he sat up. He then took off a white rosary that was hiding under his shirt and hung the bracelets and necklace around his bedpost. He removed jewelry all except for his many earrings.

"We're all guys, its fine" Vain sat up and rolled off the left side of his bed disappearing from Lawliet's sight.

Suddenly a large trunk was hurled onto Vain's bed. Vain stood up brushing the hair out of his face.

He looked at Lawliet "Come on kiddo don't make Watari do everything for you"

Taking the hint, Lawliet got on the floor and drag his trunk out from under his bed. He pulled with all his might just to remove it from under the bed. He unhooked the latches and opened the trunk. All of his old clothes were there and some new ones too. He grabbed some pajama pants and a baggy white shirt.

He looked at Watari. Watari turned his back to the boy. And Lawliet switched out his shirt and pants with his pajamas.

Within the hour young boys began filtering into the room, one at a time, and began to change as well. When Lawliet was done Watari snatched the little boy up in his arms and tucked him into his bed.

"Good night" he pat him on the head and left the room. As he left Lawliet's sight his stomach dropped. He felt unimaginably alone.

He laid in his bed petting George for an hour or so watching the boys come into the room. There were so many of them. He lost count after 23.

A woman walked in pushing the last bit of the younger boys into the room "I'm Turning off the lights boys" she yelled.

The lights turned off and for a few minutes Lawliet watched the snow fall outside and listed to the whispers of the boys slowly fade into silence. He snuggled close to his stuffed monkey George.

It became quiet quick. He looked around at all the sleeping boys. This was so different than what he was use to. He had never seen their faces before. He knew no one. No one at all. Tears slowly began to trickle down his face. He could see so many people but he was all alone in this dark room.

_Who is going to take care of me now that mom and dad are gone?_ He thought to himself _I don't want to be alone_ he gripped George tightly as more and more tears streamed down his face.

_No,_ He thought _I have to be strong, for George._ He wiped the tears off his cheeks with his sleeves and cuddled close to George. Now determined he tried desperately to fall asleep. Within a few hours of tossing and turning he succeeded to do so.


	3. L

Lawliet rolled on his left side, then to his right. He rubbed his eyes with his little hands and blinked a few times rapidly. He slowly sat up. He looked around the large room but no one was there. He crawled out of his bed, and stepped onto the cold wooden floor.

He crawled under his bed and pulled out his trunk. He unlatched it with difficulty, but eventually pushed it open. He rummaged threw it and came across some long blue denim jeans and a long sleeved white T-shirt. He looked around the room quickly, to make sure there really wasn't anyone there to see him change. There was no one. He then began to quickly change into the jeans and shirt.

After he was changed he stood up and began walking down the rows of beds towards the door to the hall. He came to the large wooden doors and struggled to push it open. It took all his strength, but he managed to get it open. He stuck his tiny head out into the hall and looked right, then left. He neither saw nor heard anyone.

It was very quiet, eerily quiet. He walked out into the hall and stood there for a moment, then he spun in a slow circle looking in all directions back and forth making sure his eyes weren't fooling him. No one. But just to make sure he stuck his head back in the bedroom and gazed at the emptiness. He walked down the hall to Rogers's office and knocked twice quietly. He opened the office door and let himself in.

"Roger?" he asked. But Roger was not at his desk.

He turned and left the room slowly. "Watari!?" he yelled hoping someone would hear. He listened but all he could hear was the eco of his own voice.

Lawliet suddenly became very scared. "Hello!" he yelled on the top of his lungs. There was no response. He turned to his left and jogged down the hall "is anyone there?"

He stopped half way down the hall, it was so big.

_I'm scared_ he thought to himself. He began to tear up. He crouched down and buried his face in his knees and began to sob. He didn't know what to do.

Suddenly he heard a door open down the hall. He had never jumped up so fast. Someone was coming out of a room down the hall.

He ran. He ran so fast toward the figure the breeze on his face blew the tears right off. He didn't know who it was and he didn't care, he didn't even care to look at the face of the person. He just about tackled the person. He grabbed onto him and hugged him tight.

"Wow kiddo, slow down!" the boy said as he toppled over a little from Lawliet's hug.

Lawliet looked up, it was the boy he met last night, Vain. Vain looked own at the scared little boy "you finally woke up!" he said with a laugh "are you always this jumpy in the morning?"

"Everyone disappeared!" he yelled, "Where did they go?!"

Vain's smile quickly faded. "What?" he asked slowly.

"Where is everyone?" he asked again with panic in his voice.

Vain put his arm around Lawliet and walked him back to the bedroom. "Get your coat, shoes, and scarf on."

"But" Lawliet asked quietly.

"Just do it!" Vain demanded.

Lawliet recoiled but then quickly put on his boots, coat and scarf with a little assistance from Vain.

Vain grabbed his hand and began walking toward to door that led them outside to the courtyard.

"Ok, close your eyes" Vain said as they reached the large door.

Lawliet did as he was told. He could hear Vain open the door and he felt a freezing breeze rush towards his face, and a slight chill ran down his spine.

Vain walked behind him and took both of Lawliet's hands and held them above his head, and guiding him like a puppet master would guide his puppet. They walked a few steps and Vain would lift him up by the arms when there was a step or anything the little boy may have tripped on.

Vain let down Lawliet's arms and put his hand on his shoulder "All righty then, open your eyes." He said with a smile.

Lawliet slowly opened his eyes. The snow was calmly falling on his face and a cool breeze tickled his nose. He looked around the courtyard and he saw just about all of the other orphans playing in the snow.

"You see" Vain said smiling, "we're all right here."

A huge grin formed on Lawliet's face.

Suddenly off in the distance a small boy ran towards them yelling, "Vain! Vain!" he ran right up to them very quickly. "Vain!" he yelled again now tugging on Vain's shirt. The boy looked only a little older than Lawliet. He noticed right away that the boy had half of his front left tooth missing. Other than that, he looked like any other little boy with short shaggy brown hair, and a few freckles over his nose.

"Where have you been?" he shouted.

"Oh, umm" he stuttered "well you see I had to study for a big test later today. So I went up to the library for a while."

"Oh," the little boy stopped. "Well you said that you would teach me how to play tennis today!" The little boy smiled big at Vain now fully exposing the cracked tooth.

"Did I?" Vain asked scratching his head nervously. "But we had that _Horrible _snow storm last night, the courts must look _terrible_" Vain pat the little boy on the head "I don't want you or me to get hurt today, how bout next week?"

"Awww," the little boy groaned, he looked at he ground disappointedly "Ok…"

Vain smiled victoriously

Then as though he had not even noticed Lawliet's presents the boy asked, "Who's he? Is he new?"

Lawliet nodded nervously. He was just about to introduce himself when all of a sudden Vain said "This!" He smiled knowing he had just interrupted Lawliet

"This is L."


	4. One Snowy Morning

"L, Well I can remember that!" the young man smiled and pointed to himself, "You can call me Chip!" He took a quick glance at Vain and said smiling, "See you guys later." He ran off into the snow and began throwing snowballs at one of the other boys.

Lawliet looked down at his feet and smiled, he began to think _it might not be so bad here after all. _He looked up after a moment and turned to Vain

"L?" he asked innocently, "Do you not remember my real name?"

Vain smiled "Naaa, I remember your 'real' name" Vain laughed under his breath, "but you see everyone here has a nickname, like 'Vain' isn't my real name, It's just a nickname, but I've been here so long that most people don't remember or even know my real name."

"What is your real name?" Lawliet asked.

"Oh, I can't tell you that" he said with a conniving grin.

"Why not? You know mine! It's not fair!" Lawliet said with determination.

Vain gave a slight nod of approval "True, tell you what, I'll tell you my name some other time, ok?

"Why not now?" he asked

Vain leaned down and whispered into Lawliet's ear "Cause I don't want you to go tell everyone my real name"

Vain stood up and smiled at Lawliet. He began to descend down the stairs.

"Awww, but I won't tell!" shouted Lawliet as he chased after him.

"I don't know that" Vain said glancing back at the little boy hopping down the stairs toward him, "That's why we're gonna get to know each other better and if I **think** I can trust you with that **valuable** information then and only then, will it **consider** telling you."

Lawliet hopped off the last step into the snow and looked up at Vain, a little drained. He sighed, "Ok, I understand." Vain smiled and pat him on the head.

"Hey, you wanna see the rest of the courtyard L?" Vain asked

He nodded "Sure" and grabbed Vain's hand.

Vain raised his eyebrow a little confused, but none the less, began walking with the little boy attached to his left arm.

It was a beautiful morning. The snow fell gently to the ground. The grass was no longer visible and a thin white blanket lay atop all of the coniferous evergreens surrounding the orphanage. There were ice sickles dripping from the large orphanage gates and despite the cold weather there were still birds fluttering around.

Lawliet put out his left hand and caught a snowflake. It quickly melted into his tiny mitten.

"SO!" Vain said abruptly, "from now on your name is L, ok? If anyone asks, that's your name."

"Why?" Lawliet asked innocently.

"Why?" Vain asked himself, "Because no one goes by their real name here."

"Why?"

"Well" he looked up in thought, "**Well** if everyone around here had long complicated names like 'Lawliet' then poor old Watari would **never** remember them all."

Lawliet looked a little confused, and insulted.

"And there cool! Its fun to have a nickname!" Vain corrected himself and began to try laughing it off.

Lawliet smiled knowing how hard Vain was trying to make him feel comfortable in this new place, "Ok." He joined Vain and started giggling.

"So" Vain coughed a little trying to regain his cool, "you like the snow?"

"I guess" Lawliet said quietly. He looked up at the sky and closed his eyes. He began thinking of his experiences with snow, most of which were with is recently departed parents.

Suddenly out of nowhere a huge, cold, wet blob of snow smacked him square in the face.

Lawliet was literally taken back by the hit and fell onto the ground landing on his butt as gracefully as a fish out of water. He sat up and wiped the snow from his eyes. Rubbing his eyes and regaining his vision he saw Vain standing a few feet away laughing uncontrollably, his arms wrapped around his torso.

Lawliet was in shock; he didn't know weather to laugh or to cry.

Vain suddenly realized what he did wasn't the best of ideas and stopped laughing immediately. He hurried to the little boy covered in snow.

He fell to his knees in front of the boy and began to help wipe the snow off of his little face.

"Oh man" Vain said with regret, "L I'm really sorry."

Vain let go of his face and looked at Lawliet. The little boy had a huge bundle of snow in his hair and a bunch still left on his face. But just as he looked up Vain noticed he wasn't crying but laughing.

"Its really cold" Lawliet said giggling with a smile.

Vain sighed in relief. And they sat laughing in the snow-covered courtyard.


End file.
